


The Selkie's Skin

by destroyerofhearts



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Canon Universe, M/M, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 02:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19039690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destroyerofhearts/pseuds/destroyerofhearts
Summary: Arthur was 14 when his father brought home a grand trophy from his campaign out at sea.





	The Selkie's Skin

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Selkie Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11893902) by [blacktail_chorus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktail_chorus/pseuds/blacktail_chorus). 



> Hello blacktail-chorus! I loved this poem SO MUCH when I read it that I knew I had to remix it. Any sort of sea creature lore is just so up my alley! I hope you enjoy this!

Uther Pendragon had many trophies from all the years he’d pledged to the fight against magic.Every weapon used by Uther in the defeat of a creature of magic was hung proudly in the Great Hall, while taxidermied magical creatures flanked the halls. Having grown up amongst the trophies, Arthur never batted an eye at them. They had always been there, and always would be, as far as he knew. 

He was 14 when his father brought home a grand trophy from his campaign out at sea. 

“It’s the skin of a selkie, you see,” his father explained when Arthur asked. “A dangerous creature sent to drown men to their death. Without the creature’s skin, the selkie is trapped on land, vulnerable and alone. Exactly what he deserves.”

Arthur gently held out his hand to run over the skin, anticipating a rush of power from touching the most valuable part of a dangerous creature. But he felt no such rush, only a pang of pity for the creature, wherever he may be. He drew his hand away from the skin, uncertain for the first time about his father’s prized trophies. 

 

\-----

 

The selkie skin was so prized that it lay upon his father’s bed. 

“It is said that the skin of a selkie brings good fortune to whoever beholds one,” Gaius explained to Arthur when he asked.

“Even more so than the horn of a unicorn?” 

“I’m afraid so, yes,” Gaius sighed. 

Arthur was beginning to understand why Gaius said he was afraid so of many of the things his father did. 

However, Camelot thrived even more so than it had ever done in Arthur’s memory. Crops and food were plentiful, magic was more scarce than ever, and the sun shone almost every day. Even Arthur found himself growing stronger and bolder by the day. His father, however, remained unaffected by the selkie skin, Arthur noticed, in spite of the fact that it lived upon his bed. While everyone in Camelot smiled brilliantly and beautifully, as Arthur did so himself, his father continued to sneer. 

 

\-----

 

As Arthur’s responsibilities increased with his age, he found himself routinely patrolling through the lower town with his knights. And that’s when he first noticed him, the boy. He was pale and made up of skin and bones, with hair as dark as night and blue eyes as bright as the sky. Arthur noticed him hiding in the shadows, and could never catch him. Arthur was intrigued, and a little frightened himself, at who this boy was and why he hid when he saw the Prince coming. And Arthur knew perhaps he ought to turn a blind eye. The boy had done nothing wrong, and Arthur had no inclination towards finding out if there was anything shifty going on. He seemed harmless, and never colluding with anyone else. He seemed alone, actually, and because of that fact, Arthur found himself to be worried for the poor boy. 

It wasn’t until he returned late one day on a ride on his own that he was forced to confront the boy, crying behind the stables as the sweet day turned into a bitterly cold night. 

“You there, why are you crying?” Arthur addressed as firmly as he could, but when the boy tried to flee he realised his mistake. 

“Please don’t hurt me,” he sobbed.

“Why would I hurt you?” Arthur asked, knowing fully well that he didn’t want an answer to that question. He didn’t want to know the weight of the truth that would come with it. 

“I’m trapped here, and I can’t get back to my family, without…”

“Without what?”

“Without my skin.”

Arthur took in a sharp breath. And there it was, the admission that was enough of a reason for Arthur to run him through with his sword. 

And if he didn’t, it was an act of treason against the crown. Against his father. 

“Selkie,” Arthur breathed, and the boy nodded, too choked up in tears to form any words.

“You ought to leave here, it’s not safe for someone like you,” Arthur urged the boy.

“I have nowhere to go,” he whispered, his voice hoarse from crying. 

“Anywhere but Camelot, please,” Arthur insisted.

The boy just shuddered and moved away from Arthur. So Arthur left the boy there, crying and shivering, at a loss of what to do. But in his heart, he already knew what he wanted to do. For if he hadn’t, he would have run the boy through with his sword. 

 

\-----

 

The next night he insisted on having some wine with his father. Enough to intoxicate him to sleep, and then take the skin from underneath his nose. 

Once his father was passed out on his bed, Arthur hefted the skin over his shoulder and raced down the corridors he knew would be empty at this hour of the night until he made it to the courtyard and the stables. There the boy was hiding, having been sleeping in a corner of the stables as some of the only decent shelters to be found in the citadel. He shook the trembling figure awake, and once the boy awoke his eyes widened at the presence of his skin on Arthur’s shoulder.

“My skin,” he gasped.

“We must hurry. I have to get you to the ocean and be back before my father wakes and sends out all his knights for you, and for me,” Arthur whispered, hauling the boy to his feet. He quickly saddled his horse, throwing the skin over the front of the saddle and pulling the boy up to sit behind him. From there, they rode out to the ocean as quickly as Arthur’s horse could carry them.

When they arrived, Arthur hopped down off of the horse and helped the boy out of the saddle as well. He gently hauled the selkie’s skin down and together, they moved quickly towards the shore. 

But before the selkie could transform into his true form, the boy looked back at him. “I will repay you for this one day. I swear on my life.”

“You don’t have to do that, uh…what is your name?”

A soft smile broached his lips. “Merlin. My name is Merlin.”

“Merlin,” Arthur sighed, trying out the name on his tongue. But before he could say anything else, the selkie had slipped into his skin, becoming a seal once more and dived into the ocean. 

“Goodbye, Merlin,” Arthur said to the ocean. 

 

\-----

 

Arthur returned to the citadel just before dawn broke and to his chambers with enough time to cover his tracks as the warning bells sounded. 

Throughout the day his father stormed and stomped, yelled and growled, while Arthur watched silently, knowing that he had done the right thing.

And though Camelot’s great prosperity faded, Arthur suspected that it wasn’t all to do with the selkie’s skin. 


End file.
